Author: ALJAZEERA

ByteDance, the owner of the social media platform TikTok, has filed a lawsuit against the United States government in an effort to block a law that would force it to divest from its US assets. On Tuesday, lawyers for ByteDance filed the complaint in the US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, arguing the law was “obviously unconstitutional”. President Joe Biden signed the law less than two weeks ago, on April 24, as part of a package that included foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel, as well as humanitarian relief for Gaza. Under the law, ByteDance has nine months to…

In a rare warning, the US president threatens to halt some arms supplies if Israel invades city in southern Gaza.For the first time since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October, United States President Joe Biden has admitted American weapons have been used to kill civilians. And he is threatening to stop supplying arms that have been part of US efforts “to secure Israel”. The comments are the strongest warning yet by the president against a ground invasion of Rafah by Israeli forces. But are Biden’s comments an attempt to calm down anger at home as he seeks another term…

New Delhi, India — As the world’s largest — and one of its most unequal — democracies votes in a mammoth national election, a new debate has gripped the campaigns of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress party. At the heart of this latest political slugfest is the idea of a potential redistribution of wealth. But while the Congress party has alluded to the need for some resources to be reallocated to traditional marginalised economic and caste-based communities, Modi and the BJP have accused the opposition of plotting to hand over wealth…

Prime Minister Netanyahu says Israel would ‘fight with our fingernails’ to achieve war objectives despite mounting US pressure.Israeli officials have struck a defiant tone after US President Joe Biden warned that the United States would not provide weapons for a full-scale ground assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are hemmed in with no safe way to leave. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in televised remarks on Thursday that Israel, which is heavily reliant on US weapons shipments, would “fight with our fingernails” if necessary. “Hamas [hearts] Biden,” Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s…

Islamabad, Pakistan – When Aamir Dhedhi took his mother to India in 2014 to get treatment for Parkinson’s disease, the doctors there advised him to procure cannabidiol (CBD) oil to help her manage her pain. It was the first time that Dhedhi, a Karachi-based entrepreneur, learned about the medicinal use of the cannabis derivative. On returning to Pakistan, the businessman ordered a small quantity of the oil from the United States. Almost instantly, it helped calm his mother’s nerves and reduce tremors, he said. Dhedhi became a firm believer in CBD’s benefits. “Seeing the oil’s impact on my mother’s wellbeing,…

Dr Zouhair Lahna has worked in conflict zones across the globe – Syria, Libya, Yemen, Uganda and Ethiopia – but he has never seen anything like the Israeli war on Gaza. In those life-threatening situations, the Moroccan French pelvic surgeon and obstetrician said, there was a route to safety for civilians. But on Tuesday, Israeli forces seized and closed Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt – the only escape for Palestinians from the war and the most important entry point for humanitarian aid. “This is another injustice. … It’s not human,” Lahna said, shaking his head as he spoke to…

Air India was once so renowned for its service that Singapore’s founding statesman Lee Kuan Yew used the airline as a blueprint for launching the city-state’s own flag carrier in the early 1970s. In recent decades, India’s national airline came to be seen as a cautionary tale of decline as it racked up billions of dollars in losses and battled a reputation for tardiness and poor service. When the Tata Group bought the company in October 2021, returning control to the wealthy Tata family after decades of state ownership, CEO Natarajan Chandrasekaran laid out a clear objective: “To build a…

Accidents involving Air Senegal, Corendon Airlines come as aircraft manufacturer in crisis over its poor safety record.Two Boeing 737 passenger planes have been involved in accidents in Senegal and Turkey on takeoff and landing, raising further questions about the aircraft manufacturer’s safety record. In Senegal, a chartered Air Senegal Boeing B737-300 plane skidded off a runway before takeoff early on Thursday at Blaise Diagne International Airport in the capital, Dakar. Eight-five people – including two pilots and four cabin crew – were on board the flight operated by TransAir and bound for the Malian capital Bamako. At least 10 people…

The United States has halted the shipment of some types of heavy bombs to Israel and US President Joe Biden has also pledged to halt the supply of some offensive weapons and artillery shells to the country if it goes ahead with its assault on Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah. Here’s what we know so far. What is the US saying? Biden issued this warning, possibly his starkest yet against Israel, during an interview with CNN on Wednesday. In the same interview, he also said that the US would continue to supply defensive arms such as Iron Dome interceptors, underlining…

Sarah Aljamal dreamed of doing voiceovers for the animated films Tangled or Ratatouille. She had started taking voice acting classes with Fouad Shams, one of the best-known voice actors in the Middle East. Her dream, like many young women, was to be independent. Despite being born with a hole in her heart and undergoing more than 20 surgeries in her short life for congenital defects in her bones and joints, the 23-year-old from Gaza City was determined. Besides learning voice acting, Aljamal was doing translations and helping an international charity on disability issues. But all that disappeared when her family’s…